I will never be ashamed to admit that I LOVE Christmas. I can't rightly say when my love for Christmas really developed. I imagine I was just like every other child who eagerly awaits Christmas day and finds wonder in every Christmas light and bow. As I got older, Christmas changed as it does for most of us. All the usual events happened in order to get ready for Christmas Day: finding a Christmas tree and decorating it, decorating the house, and making cookies for the neighbors. But I no longer woke up early Christmas morning and there wasn't the same excitement. After I moved away from home I came to appreciate a lot of things that I hadn't really appreciated before, and Christmas was one of those things. Christmas meant spending time with my family, and I enjoyed every minute I got to spend with my mom and sister as we decorated the house and listened to Christmas music. When I went on my mission, Christmas changed for me a little bit again, and I really came to understand what Christmas is about. Not that I didn't understand before, I just focused too much on the parts that weren't as important. My first Christmas in Taiwan I just missed my family and always thought to myself "I'll be home for Christmas, if only in my dreams." I came home a week before my second Christmas in Taiwan and I spent those few weeks in December with my companion trying to tell everyone I could about what Christmas is really about. And that changed everything for me.
This December will mark my second year home from my mission and so much has happened and changed, but not my love of Christmas! Everyone thinks I'm a little nutty and obsessed, especially when I listen to Christmas music in July. Then I try to explain to them that Christmas music just makes me happy, and then I ask them what's wrong with being happy?! So, after that ridiculously long intro...
Everyone I think realizes that around Christmas there is a different kind of feeling. Some attribute it to the festive lights and decorations, some think it's because of the gifts that are given and received. Most don't fully realize that Christmastime bears a special feeling because Christmas is about Christ. For those who do believe in Christ, it is a special time to remember Him, and to remember the hope that He brought with Him when He entered this world. For those who don't, they recognize that Christmastime is different. It is a time of joy, a time of service, a time of looking for ways to make someone else's day a little bit brighter.
There is a song from the play/musical The Forgotten Carols that says three kings found the Lord, and so can we. Christmas is about finding Him, and sharing His love and light with those who are searching, for those who sit in darkness, for those searching for hope. During Christmastime we are particularly aware of service opportunities, but when we carry the spirit of Christmas always in our hearts, we are always looking for and finding ways to lift others. And we do that because we are really carrying the spirit of Christ and His love in our hearts.
I love Christmas because of the feeling it brings, and there is not much more I could want than to have that feeling always. I want to do all I can to help brighten someone's day, to walk with a skip in my step because I am happy with life and all it brings. I want Christ to be the center of my life, just as He is the center of Christmas. As the Christmas season approaches, I do look forward to the sparkling white snow, the festive decorations, and the time I'll be able to spend with family. This will be our first Christmas all together as a family in four years. And I hope that when I turn my Christmas music on even though Thanksgiving has yet to come and go that all those people that have to put up with me will just smile, and remember that Christmas is about Christ.
Let Him In. Light the World.
